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| Delacroix's Christ on the Sea of Galilee |
The word of God describes St. Paul’s first missionary journey through the country we know as Turkey. Paul and Barnabas first told the Jews the good news: Jesus Christ is gloriously alive and because He lives, we live forever. This good news outraged some in the synagogue.
Then Paul and Barnabas proclaimed the Gospel to the Gentiles, the non-Jews. God gifted these people with faith in Jesus. They repented, were baptized and focused their lives on God.
This Easter season, we have been meeting different biblical personalities.
Today we meet Paul, also known by his Jewish name, Saul. Born in Tarsus, southeast Turkey, he was well educated in Judaism and Greco-Roman philosophy. He was by trade a tent-maker. But he was a rabid persecutor of Christians.
Suddenly, enroute to Damascus, Paul was struck by an amazing visionary experience of Jesus, gloriously alive. This turned Paul’s life upside down. He became one of the greatest evangelizers: established Christian faith communities, authored letters shaping the history of Christian thought, and eventually was beheaded by order of the emperor Nero.
Paul and the apostles lived and died for their communities. Our response is gratitude to God for our community, which gives a virtuous purpose to our lives. A few good reasons why I’m grateful:
We are a worldwide community, a diverse family that celebrates the presence of the living Christ in our liturgies and especially in our Eucharist. Yes, the triune God abides in us, and we abide in God.
We are people of the good news, servants of God’s people. My favorite image of the Church is Peter’s fishing boat. We’re on a journey, with a map, stormy weather, people slipping overboard, survivors, mutinies, sometimes off course, attacked. And a boat of course needs a captain: if everybody grabs the wheel, we’re all in trouble.
We are a community with splendid heroes. Consider the litany of saints. These men and women lived the beatitudes. They recognized who they are (creatures of an all-mighty Creator); they sought God in their daily lives. They were peacemakers, bridge-builders.
We are a community moved to serve the basic needs of the poor. Think of Jesus’s many examples and teachings, for example Matthew chapter 25. Yes, we are the mystical body of Christ attempting to meet people’s needs.
Alas we are also a community of saints and sinners. Some people behave scandalously; they make a mess out of their lives and the lives of others So, we have to muddle through as best we can and stay true to Jesus who is our way, our truth and our life.
The word of God, for example the Acts with its narrative about the missionary journeys of Paul, prompts us to thank God for the heroes and heroines before us, and for the faith community to which we belong. Yes, be grateful and confident, and invite others to the spiritual resources, the “living waters” of this faith-filled community of service.
